My father has three important women in his life, and since it’s my father we’re talking about, they have the same importance to me. His mother, his first wife, and his current wife. My grandmother, my mom, and my step-mom. See how important these women are to my life, but it’s still better to share this story through my father’s lens.

My Grandmother Started All This

My dad’s mother was born on April 8th. She turns 80 today and the boys (me, my brother, and my dad) have some special plans for her later this evening. Let’s just pause and think of how the world has changed in 80 years. She was born in 1934 when Iran was still Persia. Alcatraz was opened this same year. John Dillinger and Baby Face Nelson are robbing banks and running from the FBI. The Loch Ness Monster is ‘photographed’ and created. Three Stooges hit the screen. FDR creates The New Deal and SEC. Adolph Hitler becomes Fuhrer of Germany. and Babe Ruth signs his last contract for $35,000, oddly Babe Ruth plays an important role today. My grandmother has seen a lot, experienced a lot, and loved a lot. She obviously loves her family, but she also loves baseball and the Atlanta Braves, see where I’m headed with this Dan?

Happening Once is Crazy

My dad’s first wife was also born on April 8th. My parents met in high school, fell in love, got married, had a baby, it was a boy, they called him Brad. More than a sign of the times, this is crazy. The girl he marries shares the same birthday as his mom. But that’s cool, makes it easy to remember and a really great story to tell about the important women in his life. They had me and my little brother and at one point they drove us around in a Blue Cougar and Orange Fiesta, loved the 80s car colors. Also, mom is a Braves fan too.

Happening Twice is Really Weird When you Think About It

My dad’s second wife was also born on April 8th. For real. No Joke. Can’t make this up. All 3 of the most important women in my dad’s life were all born on April 8th. I couldn’t ask for a better step-mother. She’s kind, loving, and truly enjoys being a part of this family. This crazy weird family that happened because they were all born on April 8th. Geez, dad, did you ever even date someone who wasn’t born on April 8th?

So Today We Celebrate

It seems each year on April 8th, I go buy 3 cards, make 3 phone calls, and then do something special for one of the three ladies. This year it’s my grandmother’s special day – she turns 80! I’ll take mom to lunch today. My wife and my brother’s wife are going to tea with all the grandkids and my grandmother and step-mother.

And then there’s Hank

Forty years ago my mom was in Atlanta Fulton Stadium the night before her birthday. The night before Hank Aaron hit his 715th Home Run. Yes, Hank Aaron broke Babe Ruth’s all-time home run record on, wait for it… April 8th. A black man in the deep south broke a record in America’s Favorite Sport that was held since 1935 by a white man. Let’s pause and listen to legendary announcer Vin Scully call this moment, pay close attention to his comments between 2:40 – 3:30. I just love how it ends with family.

Back to my family and the celebration… GiGi, my grandmother’s name ever since she became a Great-Grandmother, is going to the Ted for the Braves Home Opener and celebrate Hank Aaron’s 40th Anniversary of breaking Babe’s record while she celebrates her 80th with the boys.

Dad couldn’t have picked a better day to do it.

]]>http://www.bradnix.com/april-8th/feed/110249Taking A Moment to Pausehttp://www.bradnix.com/taking-a-moment-to-pause/
http://www.bradnix.com/taking-a-moment-to-pause/#respondFri, 15 Mar 2013 01:35:15 +0000http://www.bradnix.com/?p=10169I’ve done a terrible job updating my personal blog these past two years. Mostly because I’ve been working harder than I ever have to build something truly meaningful. It’s been the most challenging endeavor, yet most rewarding experience at the same time. Late nights, early mornings, all-nighters. Reading voraciously, doing constantly, and making intentionally.

Building Acru has been one of the greatest projects/businesses/movements I’ve ever been a part of. It’s a business model designed to deliver wise, trusted advice to people who value such things in life as it relates to their money. Working side by side with Matt Hames and many other awesomely talented and passionate people to build an amazing business is something I may never get to do again in my life. I’m writing now to pause and record this moment.

Designing a Business

We started the business model design process with the customer in mind. Demographic research, personal interviews, surveys, existing customer feedback, complete and total market research to understand the mindset, preferences, and details of our perfect customers. Their public affirmation of the experience we designed for them is incredibly rewarding. Cindy Fournier | Daniel Roberts

Once we determined who we wanted to serve, we then designed a value proposition to meet them where they are in life. Our customers value what we value and seek wisdom and trusted partners in everything they do, especially when it relates to their money. Understanding the type of relationship they preferred, we were able to design an award winning facility to deliver it first hand. The space went beyond just our customers and impacted the entire community. Community Room | Copper Coin Coffee

Making a Difference

We never started this to make a point, only to make a difference. The recognition of our efforts spanning from local to international help confirm we have. Financial Brand | Fast Company | Brand Sherpa Our CEO will be speaking in Australia this summer about the future of bank branch design. Acru was featured in a case study alongside industry darling Umpqua just this past week in Las Vegas. Articles from American Banker to ABA Marketing to excitement from a community just because they heard we might be opening a new location.

It’s all overwhelming when I pause and think about the past two years. Working through the startup phase in the first year and our parent company failing in the second year didn’t make things easy. I’m tired. and proud.

]]>http://www.bradnix.com/taking-a-moment-to-pause/feed/010169Path Needs a Groups Featurehttp://www.bradnix.com/path-needs-a-groups-feature/
http://www.bradnix.com/path-needs-a-groups-feature/#respondMon, 07 Jan 2013 22:30:31 +0000http://www.bradnix.com/?p=10167In fact, all social networks should have the ability to group connections however the user prefers them to be grouped – and not just for consumption, but creation. It’s no secret I love Path, but my goal of limiting connections suffers because I enjoy the user experience so much. This is a problem for services such as Path which obviously understand the value of less is more.

“We tend to have 5 best friends, 15 good friends, 50 close friends and family, and 150 total friends. At Path, we’re building tools for you to share with the people who matter most in your life. Our intent is to nurture quality relationships to offer you the comfort to share all your personal moments.”

The Real Problem

2 out of 3 are misaligned…

What I share with my 5 best friends is different from what I share with my 150 total friends.

Why I share with my family is often different from why I share with my 15 good friends.

How I prefer to share is via Path, yet they don’t allow groups for sorting the different Whats and Whys.

The Best Answer

Facebook and Twitter both allow for grouping of connections to filter content. However, neither of them have done so in a way that makes a real difference in How I Share. The current solutions for grouping are best used as a filter for consuming content from my connections. I think the social network that creates the best solution for creating content in a filtered manner will be the next big success. I’m going to go a step further and say this could also help solve the problem of creating One Graph to Rule Them All. Not that I support solving this problem, I’m just simply wanting a better way to share content on Path – my preferred social network.

]]>http://www.bradnix.com/path-needs-a-groups-feature/feed/010167Every Other Tuesdayhttp://www.bradnix.com/every-other-tuesday/
http://www.bradnix.com/every-other-tuesday/#commentsWed, 27 Jun 2012 03:50:47 +0000http://www.bradnix.com/?p=10116I host a brief a huddle with somegoodfriends about RETSO. This morning we covered topics such as next year’s event dates, cleaning up old content on our site, and focused on future curation of quality thoughts and thinkers. We always end our huddle with some ideation for what’s next and regardless of all the things we think of that ‘we could do’, we try to always ask ourselves ‘what should we do?’

We ended with a firm resolve to keep RETSO closer to the Slow Web vs the Fast Web.
The Slow Web has been described as…

“Timely not real-time. Rhythm not random. Moderation not excess. Knowledge not information. These are a few of the many characteristics of the Slow Web. It’s not so much a checklist as a feeling, one of being at greater ease with the web-enabled products and services in our lives.” – Jack Cheng

While the Fast Web has been characterized as…

“Fast Web companies want to be our lovers, they want to be by our sides at all times, want us to spend every moment of our waking lives with them, when sometimes that’s not what we really need. Sometimes what we really need are friends we can meet once every few months…” – Jack Cheng

More than anything, today I realized one of my favorite things to work on is affecting Behavior Change. Behavior Change, Not Growth. ‘Behavior change is about improving the lives of others, scale is about ego.’ I hope everything I work on improves the lives of others far more than it scales for growth’s sake. I feel confident both RETSO and Acru are truly working hardest on behavior change over growth.

In fact, I’ve been working hard on changing many of my own behaviors. I have established many filters in my life lately to increase focus on the things that matter most. I could do better yet. I’ve tried to avoid shipping for speed of getting things done and work on prioritization and pruning. Being mindful of value, not addiction to bells. I could do better yet. I’ve lost more weight and done more pushups over the last 6+ months than I ever thought I would. I could do better yet.

I’ve been a part of somereally coolmoments and still found time to scratch my strategic gaming itch -a behavior I want to always remember to work on improving as it makes me happy and a better thinker.

This time I was inspired by a unique combination of my nostalgia for D&D, my enjoyment of reading The Walking Dead, and an article from the Art of Manliness. A month or so ago, I actually made a version of what I call my Bug Bag. Not to survive the apocalypse, or bug out of town, or bug back home, but to be prepared for whatever bugs life may throw at me (flat tires, hungry kid, sudden rain storm, impromptu picnic, or just the opportunity to help others). It was my way of bringing the thought of adventure to life. In many ways, packing that bag was therapy. It helped me think of ways I could prepare for and enjoy life better.

While sharing the Slow Web ideas with my friends this morning, it dawned on me that this Bug Bag of mine represented a Slower Life I’ve been working on for some time now. Tomorrow I take some time off and head to the Outer Banks away from the Fast Life and celebrate the 4th at the beach.

What a perfect time for some gamification of my life.

The Rules:

Get from Marietta to the Outer Banks within 24 hours.

Leave around 6pm to force myself to stop overnight along the way.

Assume the power grid is down throughout the southeast. Hotels are closed and boarded.

Gas stations only have what’s left in the tanks below ground. They can’t process credit cards. (I have limited cash in my bug bag).

Grocery stores have been raided. Restaurants abandoned. I must eat & drink only what’s in my bug bag (granola, jerky, some water).

I’m not leaving my dog behind.

Wow – I really had no idea I was going to share all this when I sat down to write tonight. I was simply hoping to share my passion for the Slow Web Movement. It seems the Slow Life Movement has me by the grip as well.

Until I return (if walkers don’t get to me first).

]]>http://www.bradnix.com/every-other-tuesday/feed/510116I build boxeshttp://www.bradnix.com/ibuildboxes/
http://www.bradnix.com/ibuildboxes/#respondWed, 18 Apr 2012 01:36:08 +0000http://www.bradnix.com/?p=10083Sometimes I put data into them and measure the empty space.
Sometimes I put people into them and measure their experience.

Sometimes the boxes work as intended.
Sometimes the boxes are better than I had hoped.
I’m addicted to building boxes.

I learn from working boxes and broken boxes. I’m addicted to learning.
Learning how to build better boxes.

Learning first is hard. But it helps fit the sides together.
Well fit sides make stronger boxes.

I used to direct people to my about page or my LinkedIn profile to get an idea of what I do.
But this is probably the more honest representation.

I build boxes.

]]>http://www.bradnix.com/ibuildboxes/feed/010083Taste & Tacthttp://www.bradnix.com/taste-tact/
http://www.bradnix.com/taste-tact/#respondThu, 12 Apr 2012 12:40:15 +0000http://www.bradnix.com/?p=10100You could have created a real opportunity, if you had better tact. The experience could have made a difference, if you had better taste. If you combined Taste and Tact, then you can change anything for the better.

Tact, noun. a keen sense of what to do or say in order to maintain good relations with others or avoid offense

Taste, verb. to perceive or recognize in order to establish a preference.

It has been my experience that taste and tact are the two most important traits to improve in order to create lasting value in life. This holds true for personal relationships with friends and family as well professional relationships with colleagues and customers.

Fine tuning your taste to a point where others recognize your perceptions and actually begin to adopt them as their own creates an enormous amount of value. Steve Jobs cared more about taste than almost anything else worked on. Here he talks about Microsoft’s lack of taste.

As right as Steve Jobs may be on the lack of taste at Microsoft, he comes off as arrogant and rude because he lacked tact in delivering the message.

Fine tuning tuning your tact to be able to disagree in a manner that allows a relationship to be strengthened and not strained creates immediate and future opportunities. The US Marines teach tact as a key leadership trait.

As an entrepreneur, sales rep, or corporate executive, we should all recognize that culture and original ideas both flourish when taste and tact are abundant. Training tact begins with empathy. Training taste begins with understanding preference.

]]>http://www.bradnix.com/taste-tact/feed/010100Introducing Acruhttp://www.bradnix.com/introducing-acru/
http://www.bradnix.com/introducing-acru/#commentsTue, 14 Feb 2012 02:55:00 +0000http://www.bradnix.com/introducing-acru/This is the second of two video blog posts I’m doing tonight for two main reasons:

And I can’t believe I’m reviewing Super Bowl ads before the Super Bowl.

]]>http://www.bradnix.com/the-greatest-super-bowl-commercial-of-all-time/feed/410022If software forces social, then I’m worth less.http://www.bradnix.com/if-software-forces-social-then-im-worth-less/
http://www.bradnix.com/if-software-forces-social-then-im-worth-less/#commentsMon, 23 Jan 2012 14:44:05 +0000http://www.bradnix.com/?p=10005Today I was going to write about “If, Then” statements as I currently believe they are the simplest form of brilliance ever. If this happens, then this happens. If I do this, then the outcome will be this. If I code this, then that will happen. Therefore, one of my favorite new websites is IFTTT.com

If, Then works because…

It’s simple. It’s focused. It’s brilliant. But when I woke up today, someone else had beat me to the punch and covered why:

So here’s what you get instead…

Over the weekend, I thought I’d finally sign up for Pinterest and check it out. I knew what it was before signing up, just had never seen any real value in it. Given it’s popularity and the fact that I am sort of in the technology business with RETSO and all, I figured I should at least sign up and see for myself what I was missing.

My impression so far…

It is really possible to be too social in life. And this coming from a guy who has been on social networks since day one. I’ve tried hundreds of new social technologies and yet the last 2 I’ve tried have really left a sour taste. Spotify and Pinterest are both way too social. Before I could even set up my first Pinterest board, I had autofollowed dozens of people, received countless followers myself, plus recieved a text message and several facebook messages about my joining of Pinterest. I had not even posted a single entry yet, geesh.

This concept of making every single experience in life as social as possible is ridiculous.

I’m not saying social is a bad idea, heck it’s actually essential for both personal and business growth today. But I’d much prefer to earn my social credibility than gain gobs of attention and interest for just showing up. This is probably the reason I prefer corners in a room crowded with people. It’s why I’d rather find one or two quality people per party, networking event, conference, etc… you can have the masses.

In conclusion…

I will keep my Pinterest account for a bit longer, because most of the damage is done for now. But I did delete my Spotify account last week. Yes, I know I could go in and change all the settings to make it a more private experience, but that puts work on me to craft an experience which seems counter to the software’s aim in life. I’m not interested in swimming against the stream just to listen to music on my own terms. There are just too many other options.
Pinterest better become amazing, else I’ll be deleting it soon as well.